Heat Wave Wattage Demands Reached Trillions

The record heat led to record breaking energy use in the metropolitan area. Con Edison reported that New Yorkers used a terawatt hour—or a trillion watts hour of electricity—during the four-day heat wave. Con Edison said several other records were broken during the heat wave like overall electrical use peaked at 13,189 megawatts at 4 p.m. on July 22. A peak electric usage record for a weekend day was also set on Saturday, June 23 when electric usage peaked at 11,533 megawatts.

The company said usage would have soared even higher if not for customers who responded to calls for conservation or who have taken advantage of Con Edison’s energy efficiency programs.

“We asked our customers to help us out by using energy wisely and they came through for us in a big way,” President of Con Edison Craig Ivey said. “On behalf of the 14,000 men and women of Con Edison, I thank our customers for their conservation efforts and the patience they showed as we restored the scattered outages.”